England are closely
monitoring the
development of the
youngest member of
a Samoan rugby
dynasty with a view to fast-tracking
him into their Test
plans — now that he is no
longer in danger of being
deported.

Manu Tuilagi made his Aviva
Premiership debut for Leicester
against Northampton at Franklin’s
Gardens on Sunday as a
replacement centre.

His first outing
in senior league rugby was
watched with interest by Martin
Johnson and many of his national team
coaches, who attended the
East Midlands derby.

Potential identified: Manu comes from a family of Samoa players but his loyalty is with England, who rate him highly

The 19-year-old is the youngest
of six brothers to have played for
the Tigers and four of his older siblings
have represented Samoa.

Manu’s allegiance lies with England
after six years in this country
and he has risen through the age group
ranks — Under 16s, Under
18s and now Under 20s.

But his ambitions to don the Red
Rose shirt in a full international
appeared to be in ruins earlier this
summer when the Home Office
ruled that he was not allowed to
stay in the UK.

International honours: Has represented England at Under 16 and Under 18 level, and was recently included in the national Under 20 squad.

Other: Manu is the sixth Tuilagi brother to appear for Leicester, following in the footsteps of Henry, Freddie, Alesana, Andy and Vavae.

It emerged that
the youngest Tuilagi had arrived on a six-month holiday visa, but
stayed on illegally ever since.

When
the oversight was identified, he
faced the threat of deportation
until a campaign on his behalf
brought about a successful appeal
against the Home Office ruling.

Leicester had already considered
the option of letting him leave the
country to be capped by Samoa,
which would have made the process
of him acquiring a work permit
straightforward.

But Tuilagi
insisted that he wanted to play for
England.
His reprieve was engineered by
his club, the RFU and three local
MPs — Edward Garnier, Keith Vaz
and Andrew Robathan, backed by
local media and a Facebook campaign.

However, he was stopped
from travelling to France for a pre-season
match against Brive last
month as the Tigers were still
awaiting confirmation that all the
paperwork was in order and they
feared he might not be permitted
to come back.

There had been similar obstructions
when he was in the England
Under 18 squad. Tuilagi was forced
to miss trips to Argentina, South
Africa and Italy amid concerns that his return would be blocked
by immigration officials, so he only
took part in home matches.

However,
the matter has now been
resolved and he is free to concentrate
on playing without worrying
about his residency status.

Vaz, MP for Leicester East, said
yesterday: ‘I was very pleased to
hear the news when Mr Tuilagi
was granted the right to remain in
the UK.